Democratic Politics in the European Parliament (Themes in European Governance) - Softcover

Hix, Simon; Noury, Abdul G.; Roland, Gérard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521694604 ISBN 13: 9780521694605

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Synopsis

With the European Parliament comprising politicians from many different countries, cultures, languages, national parties and institutional backgrounds, one might expect politics in the Parliament to be highly-fragmented and unpredictable. By studying more than 12,000 recorded votes between 1979 and 2004 this 2007 book establishes that the opposite is in fact true: transnational parties in the European Parliament are highly cohesive and the classic 'left-right' dimension dominates voting behaviour. Furthermore, the cohesion of parties in the European Parliament has increased as the powers of the Parliament have increased. The authors suggest that the main reason for these developments is that like-minded MEPs have incentives to form stable transnational party organizations and to use these organizations to compete over European Union policies. They suggest that this is a positive development for the future of democratic accountability in the European Union.

About this title

Book Description

This 2007 book establishes that the parties in the European Parliament are cohesive and that political competition in this chamber is dominated by the left-right dimension, just as in other democratic parliaments. The authors argue that this is a positive development for the future of the EU's democratic accountability.

About the Author

Simon Hix is Professor of European and Comparative Politics in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Abdul G. Noury is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and the Institute for European Studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Gérard Roland is Professor in the Departments of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0521694604
• ISBN 13: 9780521694605
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260